1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital image forming apparatus which can be preferably used for, for example, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, etc. and especially to a box body construction thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As shown in FIG. 19, in this kind of a conventional digital image forming apparatus, a document (not illustrated) is placed on a document table 2 arranged in an upper box body 1. Thereafter, images of the document are read by scanning the document with a CCD line sensor (not illustrated) which is arranged in the upper box body 1 and constitutes a scanner unit 3. In this case, the scanner unit 3 is driven by a motor (not illustrated) arranged in the upper box body 1.
Data of the document images read as shown above is outputted to a laser scanning unit (hereinafter, laser scanning unit is abbreviated into LSU) 5 arranged in a lower box body 4 on which the upper box body 1 is placed and supported. The LSU 5 is removably placed on a panel 6 fixed to a frame body (not illustrated) in the lower box body 4 with screws. Electrostatic latent images are formed on a photosensitive drum 7 by the LSU 5, based on the data of the above document images. Thereafter, the document images corresponding to the electrostatic latent images are transferred on a sheet of paper (not illustrated).
In this case, the photosensitive drum 7 is arranged under the panel 6 in the frame body and constitutes a printer unit 8, and the photosensitive drum 7 is driven by another motor (not illustrated) arranged in the lower box body 4 independently from the drive source in the upper box body 1 as well as the LSU 5, etc.
And in the digital image forming apparatus, the upper box body 1 is composed with the maintenance efficiency in the lower box body 4 taken into consideration so that it can slide sidewards relative to the lower box body 4.
Hence, in conventional digital image forming apparatuses composed as shown above, it is necessary to make the upper box body 1 slide sidewards relative to the lower box body 4 as described above when carrying out maintenance in the lower box body 4, for example, maintenance of the LSU 5. For this reason, comparatively wide space including space necessary for sliding of the upper box body 1 must be secured as space for installation of the corresponding digital image forming apparatus.